http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070704/lf_nm/india_weavers_dc

VARANASI, India (Reuters) - Shiwajatan Rajbhar spends his days weaving golden and silver flowers across exquisite silk saris on a rickety handloom in his mud hut.

Once completed, the handloom sari -- traditionally a prized part of any Indian bride's trousseau -- will be sold for many times his monthly income.

The northern city of Varanasi is to handloom saris what Darjeeling is to tea. Yet despite producing some of the most coveted saris in the Indian subcontinent, the weavers -- said to number between 200,000 and 500,000 -- have never been rich.

Now, with the market flooded with cheap machine-made saris, they are poorer than ever ,

The weavers are typical of the millions of Indians left behind by market forces even as parts of the country's metropolises enjoy increasing prosperity from a booming economy.

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You know you are a desi when ........ You spew forth the virtues of India, but don't want to live there...............You've never had a tanning salon membership